Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea Poems

Anne Finch, Countess of WinchilseaAnne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea. (April 1661 in Sydmonton, Hampshire – 5 August 1720 in Westminster,
Middlesex), was one of the first female English poets to be published.
She was the third child of Sir William Kingsmill of Sydmonton Court in Hampshire
and his wife, Anne Haslewood. She was well educated as her family believed in
good education for girls as well as for boys. In 1682, Anne Kingsmill went to St
James's Palace to become a Maid of Honour to Mary of Modena (wife of James, Duke
of York, who later became King James II.) There she met the courtier Heneage
Finch whom she married on May 15, 1684. It was a very happy marriage and Anne
wrote several love poems to her husband, most famous perhaps A letter to Dafnis.
On August 4, 1712, Charles Finch, 4th Earl of Winchilsea died childless. This
made his uncle, Anne's husband, the 5th Earl of Winchilsea, and Anne, the
Countess of Winchilsea. She died in Westminster in 1720 and was buried at her
home at Eastwell in Kent.